It's unclear whether or not UAB will restart football and get to stay in C-USA or if they won't and C-USA will have no choice but to throw a founder out of the league. my question is where do they end up?

Sunbelt could be a real possibility.

OVC would be a good fit but they are already at 12 members and they are a league that only gets 1 bid so 13 or more members would just be too many mouths to feed.

The SoCon is smaller at 10 members and has room to grow but would they have an interest? Would Samford object to another school in their backyard?

The Big South is probably out--their closest school is in South Carolina.

The over-sized Southland is a possibility. They are sitting at 13 but if they admitted UAB they would have 14 and could get to the divisional model they were aiming for. UAB could sit in an East Division with Central Arkansas, Nicholls St, Northwestern St, McNeese St, SE Louisiana, and New Orleans while the 7 Texas schools made up the West Division. This oversized league could maybe then look to add others down the road and split into two leagues with possibly a shared football conference.

With 14 NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances under their belt, I think the Sun Belt is very much in play. Eight of those trips were in the SBC...I think they'd be glad to have them back.

The dilemma I see with conferences that sponsor football and UAB is their success in college basketball. If you're CUSA, who's replacing UAB in that regard? Dipping into the Belt, unless it's for USA or ULL, does you no good. And as long as LaTech's around, ULL isn't even really on the table. And maybe USA doesn't have much support, either. I might be wrong, but I don't think CUSA can even pick off MAC programs, so there's no relief there, either. NMSU? I doubt UTEP would be thrilled...

If they get kicked out, I think SBC gets them. OVC, SoCon, and maybe CAA might try and grab them. Big South and ASun will definitely reach out regardless (and probably already have). I kind of wish MVC would look at them...but it's a tough bridge to build.

With 14 NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances under their belt, I think the Sun Belt is very much in play. Eight of those trips were in the SBC...I think they'd be glad to have them back.

The dilemma I see with conferences that sponsor football and UAB is their success in college basketball. If you're CUSA, who's replacing UAB in that regard? Dipping into the Belt, unless it's for USA or ULL, does you no good. And as long as LaTech's around, ULL isn't even really on the table. And maybe USA doesn't have much support, either. I might be wrong, but I don't think CUSA can even pick off MAC programs, so there's no relief there, either. NMSU? I doubt UTEP would be thrilled...

If they get kicked out, I think SBC gets them. OVC, SoCon, and maybe CAA might try and grab them. Big South and ASun will definitely reach out regardless (and probably already have). I kind of wish MVC would look at them...but it's a tough bridge to build.

CUSA doesn't even need to reach into the SBC to replace UAB. There is always JMU ready and waiting. That would put 6 schools in the east....6 in the south....and 2 in Florida. Seems like a pretty even split to me. Send one Florida school to each half...and your done.

I just can't see a low mid-major conference that only gets one bid going to 13 or 14 members and dividing their pie into that many pieces. The OVC is going to have a though time absorbing them unless they could get some of their northern members into the Summit or Horizon league. If they could dump Eastern Illinois and SIU-E they would have the wiggle room to grow in the south.

I wonder if a conference like the CAA would consider stretching down to take them. They are currently in Charleston, SC so maybe they grab UAB and Belmont. Division play could help ease travel concerns:

It's too bad that UAB probably doesn't have the sway to create an urban southern basketball league made up of schools without football--the A-10 and CAA have already stretched down and grabbed some of the best programs. My dream southern mid-major basketball conference would be:

The more I look at the map and schools of the Ohio Valley Conference, the more it seems UAB would be a good fit geographically and athletically. Basketball-wise, the OVC has a couple solid programs and UAB would only add to that in a positive manner. I'm not sure how Jacksonville St would feel about having another school from Alabama in the conference, but that would be a decent in-state rivalry as well as give both schools a close opponent for all sports.

The more I look at the map and schools of the Ohio Valley Conference, the more it seems UAB would be a good fit geographically and athletically. Basketball-wise, the OVC has a couple solid programs and UAB would only add to that in a positive manner. I'm not sure how Jacksonville St would feel about having another school from Alabama in the conference, but that would be a decent in-state rivalry as well as give both schools a close opponent for all sports.

But would the OVC really want to add a 13th school when they are a 1-bid league to the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament? That's an awful lot of little slices of pie.

The more I look at the map and schools of the Ohio Valley Conference, the more it seems UAB would be a good fit geographically and athletically. Basketball-wise, the OVC has a couple solid programs and UAB would only add to that in a positive manner. I'm not sure how Jacksonville St would feel about having another school from Alabama in the conference, but that would be a decent in-state rivalry as well as give both schools a close opponent for all sports.

But would the OVC really want to add a 13th school when they are a 1-bid league to the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament? That's an awful lot of little slices of pie.

I agree with that. The OVC may be wishing the Sun Belt would make an expansion decision, particularly with Eastern Kentucky. If they move on then that opens up the 12th spot for UAB. Other than a team departing, I don't see them inviting UAB. I think it would be a good fit for them if they ended up there.

With 14 NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances under their belt, I think the Sun Belt is very much in play. Eight of those trips were in the SBC...I think they'd be glad to have them back.

The dilemma I see with conferences that sponsor football and UAB is their success in college basketball. If you're CUSA, who's replacing UAB in that regard? Dipping into the Belt, unless it's for USA or ULL, does you no good. And as long as LaTech's around, ULL isn't even really on the table. And maybe USA doesn't have much support, either. I might be wrong, but I don't think CUSA can even pick off MAC programs, so there's no relief there, either. NMSU? I doubt UTEP would be thrilled...

If they get kicked out, I think SBC gets them. OVC, SoCon, and maybe CAA might try and grab them. Big South and ASun will definitely reach out regardless (and probably already have). I kind of wish MVC would look at them...but it's a tough bridge to build.

CUSA doesn't even need to reach into the SBC to replace UAB. There is always JMU ready and waiting. That would put 6 schools in the east....6 in the south....and 2 in Florida. Seems like a pretty even split to me. Send one Florida school to each half...and your done.

Oh, I know JMU would want this really bad, but what does JMU actually contribute to the conference? If you're CUSA, and you already have VA, WV, NC, KY, and TN covered, what does JMU truly give you? ODU's the one in the right part of the state. ODU's the one with a good basketball program. ODU's the one that actually had support from within the conference (at least ECU wanted them).

I'm not convinced CUSA wouldn't just go into GA, back into TX, or look into USA. I mean, unless JMU has a ton of support, which I'm not sure they do, as you'd think that if they did, this would be done already, wouldn't it?

The more I look at the map and schools of the Ohio Valley Conference, the more it seems UAB would be a good fit geographically and athletically. Basketball-wise, the OVC has a couple solid programs and UAB would only add to that in a positive manner. I'm not sure how Jacksonville St would feel about having another school from Alabama in the conference, but that would be a decent in-state rivalry as well as give both schools a close opponent for all sports.

JSU wouldn't have a problem with an in state school. JSU has pushed for UNA to gain membership in the OVC. the problem would be UAB being a non football member.

The more I look at the map and schools of the Ohio Valley Conference, the more it seems UAB would be a good fit geographically and athletically. Basketball-wise, the OVC has a couple solid programs and UAB would only add to that in a positive manner. I'm not sure how Jacksonville St would feel about having another school from Alabama in the conference, but that would be a decent in-state rivalry as well as give both schools a close opponent for all sports.

JSU wouldn't have a problem with an in state school. JSU has pushed for UNA to gain membership in the OVC. the problem would be UAB being a non football member.

You think? Even with Belmont and SIU-Edwardsville not having football and Morehead St in the Pioneer Football League? There's considerable upside to having UAB in the conference even without football because they bring aformer FBS name into the conference in a decent size market with solid basketball. Maybe having a 10th football member is something the OVC would rather have, but I haven't heard or read anything regarding this yet.

The OVC makes a lot of sense geographically but 13 would be a lot of schools and in North Alabama is also getting an invitation to keep membership at even numbers that's even more mouths to feed. At 14 members you then have to start thinking of including some additional schools and splitting in two. In the north they might include Summit League members W Illinois, IPFW, and IUPUI. NKU and Lipscomb would also be nice geographic fits. Kennesaw St would be a school in the South that could fit into this conglomeration.

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